Today a sad day for junk food junkies Hostess filed for Bankruptcy.

Hostess Brands Inc.’s announcement that it will go out of business sent shockwaves through the country Friday, as Americans began hoarding Twinkies and Ding Dongs and bemoaning their fading childhoods.

The company, which also makes Wonder Bread, said it will lay off 18,500 workers, blaming a labor strike by the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. Hostess, which has filed for bankruptcy twice this decade, threatened to liquidate earlier this week.

The union has accused the company, which logged annual sales of about $2.5 billion, of slashing worker pay and benefits while upper management rakes in pay raises.

On Friday, social media sites saw an explosion of reactions from users, many over the fate of Twinkies, Hostess’ spongy yellow snack cake.

The product has a rich history in popular culture – showing up deep-fried at county fairs and in legal form in criminal trials – and is often suspected of having an infinite shelf life.

The brand, a vintage favorite, even had a starring role in the film “Zombieland,” in which Woody Harrelson’s character Tallahassee barrels through hordes of the living dead looking for a Twinkie fix.

No longer will we have the TV adds telling kids that wonder bread builds bones 12 ways, no longer will people be able to use the Twinkie defense. Gone are the carbon dating experiments that Twinkies will last 10k years.

Yes a sad day.

OH WELL

River

I always Hostess products over the competitors.

Chocolate Cup Cakes of course and Twinkies too. Oh, and Banana Twinkies were the original.

Orange Cup Cakes when they can be found. The new Strawberry ones are a bit too sweet.

I was never a Snowballs fan. Walking home from elementary school I used to pass the "candy"machine.

Ten cents for a candy bar, my only source of a "ZERO", or have those extra two pennies for a Hostess product.

We can only hope China buys Hostess out.

now the only thing the giant mutant cockroaches will have to eat after the nuclear holocaust is POP TARTS...

And the movie ZOMBIELAND will make no sense to younger generations as Woodie Harrelson sets out to find the last living supply of twinkies.

sigh, wimper

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:47 pm The union has accused the company, which logged annual sales of about $2.5 billion, of slashing worker pay and benefits while upper management rakes in pay raises.

River

I don't know if it's true in this particular case, but generally the unions have a valid point. We're back to robber barons and not caring about the health and welfare of workers at all but the top echelons continue to rake in huge bonuses and salaries that are basically absurd given what they do. Then when the situation has a proposed fix, the company boards come out and say, "If we don't do this, then we can't attract top talent..."

Umm... are they really top talent if they drive your company into the ground for no other reason that to get that golden parachute you offered for their failing? We need to get back to people being rewarded for succeeding at the CEO level and not simply have the top manager at a company sit around, do nothing, and then collect a huge payout for it.

This is the beginning. Perhaps we need more of this before people wake up.

--LT

There are already other corporations expressing interest in acquiring the Twinkie brand name. Not any interest in Wonder Bread yet though. --FLO--

A friend just called me, 9PM EST, and said the Super Wal-Mart here was like Black Friday with people beating each other up to get Twinkies and Ding Dongs. Amazing.

Sad that my little "grandson" will never remember what a Twinkie is, but...given they're about 1,000,000 carbs each, the world will be better off without them in the long run.

Now if someone can just murder Little Debbie.

for many years I ate 8 (count them, eight) sugar-coated HOSTESS donettes and a handful of green grapes.

Then the green grapes decided to leave my body at several hundred miles per hour a few hours later.

A month or two ago, the displays changed in the supermarket and I couldn't find the tiny, powdered sugar goodies.

I sobbed quietly for two minutes in quiet and soulful mourning until some lady demanded I get out of the middle of the supermarket aisle.

Now all I eat for breakfast is dry sugar-coated shredded wheat and lots of iced tea.

I can't have milk as I'm lactose intolerant.

I'm allergic to eggs.

And the last time I made a bacon covered roast pork chop I loved the taste but not the mad panicky dash to the (censored) late at night.

Lactose Free dairy products are easily found.

Including Milk & Ice cream.

They are not less yummy then the full of Lactose stuff.

Moi

I won't miss them. They never made anything I liked. I think I've eaten about one Twinkie ever, and I never wanted another one. The world moved on, while they stayed stuck in the 50s.

Slammr (imported) wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:38 pm I won't miss them. They never made anything I liked. I think I've eaten about one Twinkie ever, and I never wanted another one. The world moved on, while they stayed stuck in the 50s.

Totally agreed. Never liked any of the stuff, even as a kid with a ferocious sweet-tooth.